Why Should You Become a Certified Professional Coach? (Part 1)
Today more than ever people feel adrift. They have questions about where they are going and how they could possibly get there. They have no direction or plan as they wander through their careers, their relationships, and even in how to develop their personal interests to have a more meaningful life.
That’s where you come in.
Are you the kind of person that other people come to for support, a reality check when things are running amuck, ideas for how to move forward?
Are you the go to person that others count on?
Then Coaching may be a great career for you.
People I meet have lots of questions about Coaching as a Profession. I’m talking about coaching the other kinds of muscles we need to flex [not the athletic type] – relationship skills, business acumen, leadership, transformation, and the myriad of other specialties that help people move forward towards their specific goals.
What does it mean to be a professional coach?
A trained guide who earns a living by . . .
Helping clients clarify their goal AND the goal behind the goal
Making sure the choice is in alignment with their strengths and interests
Creating a path of action to get there
Identifying blind spots
Problem solving the hurtles that emerge along the way
Maintaining accountability
Helping the client focus on developmental efforts
A coach is someone who helps an individual get from where they are now
to where they want to be in life, business, career and relationships.
Coaches help their clients
Focus on their strengths, and
Evaluate their weaknesses that need to be fixed vs. those that can be delegated
Always better to delegate – Fixing takes a long long time
And most weaknesses CAN be delegated
for example, I do not do my own bookkeeping, even though I had been the official Treasurer of QRCA, the Qualitative Research Consultants Assn. Accounting is not one of my delights in running my practice and my other skills and strengths bring me more success and joy in my work. So why not get someone to do the bookkeeping? I did and have less annoying tasks on my plate.
Feel happier in their lives because they are more aligned with their values, interests, strengths and needs
Coaches choose a specialty or niche in which they’ve had experience so they can offer suggestions from time to time or gently guide a client who has meandered off the trail.
Here’s a secret. Experience in the actual issue is not a mandate, BUT it does do two important things:
Builds the coaches confidence – so they avoid the “Imposter Syndrome” which plagues many new coaches by answering the question, “Why me?”
Adds credibility and connection for clients who are looking for help in that area
And, another secret.
Where you begin your practice as a coach may or may not be where you land a couple of years down the road.
As people come to you and have success, they will refer to you. The people they refer may have different issues they want addressed. Your clients refer because they liked you and the results. In their minds, they want to send people to you because they believe in you beyond the specific goal they reached working with you.
In addition, the obstacles to getting to goal may throw up roadblocks that must first be addressed in order to get the optimum outcome.
I know of many coaches who started out in one niche and ended up coaching on very different issues. Think about my client the Business coach. His clients’ business concerns were being affected by the interaction with their spouses. The primary relationship dynamics had to be addressed first, before his stated business goal could be resumed and accomplished.
The interesting surprise was that the client sent him referrals for Relationship Consulting. And the referrals, further referred him so that now his specialty has morphed into Relationship Coaching.
Wasn’t what he expected, but he’s great at it and gets great results with his clients who then do better at work. What a win – win!
More facts and surprises about Coaching in the next part of this series.
To your success,
Sharon :)
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